1946–47 British Home Championship

The 1946-47 British Home Championship was a football tournament played between the British Home Nations during the 1946–47 seasons, the first professional football seasons in Britain since the end of the Second World War. As seven seasons had passed without regular, organised, professional football, many of the players in the tournament were new to the international stage although a few old hands remained to steer the course of the competition. England were especially well endowed in this regard, with such greats as Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton returning to the fray.

Thanks to the efforts of these aging stars, England were able to win this first post-war competition, largely due to an opening 7–2 thrashing of Ireland. Wales were able to achieve a 3–1 victory over Scotland in their opener to move into second position. In the second round of matches, Ireland improved sufficiently to hold Scotland to a scoreless draw whilst England set up a commanding lead with a 3–0 defeat of Wales at home. In the final games, Ireland defeated Wales in a close match to take second place whilst England were held to a 1–1 draw by the Scots but nevertheless succeeded in claiming the trophy for themselves.

Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	5	3	2	1	0	11	3	+8
Ireland	3	3	1	1	1	4	8	−4
Wales	2	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2
Scotland	2	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

Results

Ireland v England

28 September 1946

Ireland	2 – 7	England
Norman Lockhart 2		Wilf Mannion 3, Tom Finney, Tommy Lawton, Raich Carter, Bobby Langton

Windsor Park, Belfast

Wales v Scotland

19 October 1946

Wales	3 – 1	Scotland
Bryn Jones, Trevor Ford, Jimmy StephenOwn Goal		William Waddell

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham

England v Wales

13 November 1946

England	3 – 0	Wales
Wilf Mannion 2, Tommy Lawton

Maine Road, Manchester

Scotland v Ireland

27 November 1946

Scotland	0 – 0	Ireland

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Ireland v Wales

9 March 1947

Ireland	2 – 1	Wales
Alex Stevenson, Peter Doherty		Trevor Ford

Windsor Park, Belfast

England v Scotland

12 April 1947

England	1 – 1	Scotland
Raich Carter		Andy McLaren

Wembley Stadium, London

References

Guy Oliver (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-954-4.

British Home Championship

Football in the United Kingdom: England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Competitors	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Seasons	1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 First World War 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 Second World War 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84

Rous Cup Nations Cup Home Nation matches since 1984